Congrats to Cyle Larin on MLS Rookie Record

[finchster]

Good time for the kid to move on. Nice step up for him and if he catches on it will be a good thing for him and Canada. 

[Floortom]

Still think he is in as good a situation as possible for his developmenyt (good league with essentially gauranteed playing time), but Benefica would be right up there as next best option.

[jpg75]

If Larin were to sign at Benfica this summer there is a real possibility he would be sent out on loan for next season.

[canucklefan]

For years, Benfica used a striker with similar characteristics to Larin's, Oscar Cardozo. This could be an interesting move for Larin.

[Complete Homer]

Correct my ignorance, I don't really watch anything out of Portugal, but don't the big clubs like Benefica and Porto have a reputation of signing tons of young guys who never see the pitch? 

[Acid-Tone]

I haven't seen this rumor mentioned in any of the portuguese papers, but you never know...

I think it would be a great thing if he were to go there and learn from a guy like Jonas.  A crafty striker who gets the absolute most out of his limited athleticism. 

However, Benfica are pretty loaded up front and also have Mitroglou, Raul Jimenez and Luka Jovic (a promising 18 year old serb) on the books.  Not to mention Rui Fonte and Nelson Oliveira, who keep getting loaned out year after year.  So Cyle would really have to earn his playing time if he were to sign with them. 

It's worth mentioning that Orlando and Benfica have a formal partnership and so I would think they have a bit more inside info on Larin than some other clubs might have. 

[Acid-Tone]

13 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Correct my ignorance, I don't really watch anything out of Portugal, but don't the big clubs like Benefica and Porto have a reputation of signing tons of young guys who never see the pitch? 

That's correct.    Benfica currently have probably close to 50 players signed.    

[Unnamed Trialist]

Benfica makes money buying and selling, as happens in a lot of 2nd tier leagues in Europe. But if you pay the amount being said here, or even half, you don't sit the player, it would be counterproductive. You play him, or loan him with a clause saying he should play, otherwise there is no point paying the transfer fee. 

I have no idea if Portugal is a good place for someone of Larin's characteristics. In spite of the recent Eurocup win, in Portugal there is a long tradition of similar strikers to Larin, heavy set and strong and able to work alone in the middle, like Helder Postiga, to go along with the more lithe, quicker and trickier players, like Simao, Paulo Futre, Pauleta.

[dstyles11]

15 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Correct my ignorance, I don't really watch anything out of Portugal, but don't the big clubs like Benefica and Porto have a reputation of signing tons of young guys who never see the pitch? 

If you want a perfect example of Benfica's transfer practices look at Steven Vitoria.  Had an incredible season for Estoril in 2013 with double digit goals as a CB, and has made exactly 1 appearance with the first team since signing.  They sign players like it's going out of style.  It's a numbers game, hoping to turn a profit on some.  

Forwards like Larin can certainly be successful in Portugal, but i'm afraid if he goes he won't see much of the pitch.  Unless it's with Benfica B in the second tier, which TBH isn't going to do too much for his development.  

 

[dstyles11]

14 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Benfica makes money buying and selling, as happens in a lot of 2nd tier leagues in Europe. But if you pay the amount being said here, or even half, you don't sit the player, it would be counterproductive. You play him, or loan him with a clause saying he should play, otherwise there is no point paying the transfer fee. 

I have no idea if Portugal is a good place for someone of Larin's characteristics. In spite of the recent Eurocup win, in Portugal there is a long tradition of similar strikers to Larin, heavy set and strong and able to work alone in the middle, like Helder Postiga, to go along with the more lithe, quicker and trickier players, like Simao, Paulo Futre, Pauleta.

Postiga was actually pretty small, under 6 feet.  And not particularly successful in Portugal.  He scored at about a 1 goal every 10 games pace.  He played for the national team more due to the dearth of quality striking options post-Pauleta than his quality.  Probably a better current comparison is Islam Slimani with Sporting.  He is about the same size and has been lights out the last couple of seasons.  Also like someone else mentioned i think, former Benfica striker Oscar Cardoso.  Though, he scored a lot of his goals via PK (the sporting fan in me insists on pointing this out haha).

[Yohan]

Fredy Adu is another one of Benfica failures

[Alex D]

1 hour ago, Yohan said:

Fredy Adu is another one of Benfica failures

And twelve other clubs

[Complete Homer]

1 hour ago, Alex D said:

And twelve other clubs

Hey, don't bring the good name of the Tampa Bay Rowdies into this! They are a development juggernaut 

[Yohan]

Jason Kreis new manager of Orlando. Who used to score buckets of goals in MLS as a striker and someone Larin can learn from.

Hopefully Kreis gives Laryea a run of games too

[shamrock]

Benfica highly interested in signing Cyle.  

[BrennanFan]

Rumour is picking up steam.  MLS asking price is 3 million Euros (4.3 million CDN).  

http://www.record.xl.pt/futebol/futebol-nacional/liga-nos/benfica/detalhe/cyle-larin-apontado.html

[PhillyCanuck]

Here is another report linking Larin to Benfica:

http://www.planetbenfica.co.uk/news/scout-report-cyle-larin

[A_Gagne]

For 10Mil he wouldn't be a Vitoria style, "let's see if this works" acquisition. I agree with UT, for that kind of money, he would get PT. However, 3Mil, is a different story. I truly hope that isn't MLS's asking price. I think that's way too low for a guy who's already a league all-star and hands down the top striking prospect in the league.

[lazlo_80]

47 minutes ago, A_Gagne said:

For 10Mil he wouldn't be a Vitoria style, "let's see if this works" acquisition. I agree with UT, for that kind of money, he would get PT. However, 3Mil, is a different story. I truly hope that isn't MLS's asking price. I think that's way too low for a guy who's already a league all-star and hands down the top striking prospect in the league.

I agree. I was surprised when I saw that number too. At his age you have a chance to groom this guy into a young star in a league that's starving for them. 

[Guest]

I don't think he is worth 10 million perhaps 8 at the most.

[shamrock]

Maybe it's the kind of the deal which is minimum 3 mil, but can go up if he's a succes and Benfica performs well. 10 mil honestly is too much considering he still has to prove a lot (I really believe he will though). 3 would be an absolute steal.

Yes it's true that Benfica buys and sells a lot of players, but not all of them are a bust. They do make money with transfers. Witsel comes to mind (€ 40 mil), Angel Di Maria (25) and even this year they sold Renato Sanches to Bayern for 35. 

There's just a lot of factors which determine wether or not a player becomes a hit. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Even if you are loaned out to another Portugal league team, I think you are going to develop properly if you are Cyle. But I do admit that Portugal is not bursting with opportunity, you could end up on a dud of a team depending how the loan works.

The key I think is that they can pay what they want in terms of transfer, but if Cyle agrees to overly low terms for his contract, sells himself short, then they can loan him to a weaker team. But if his salary is higher, if he insists, they won't find a modest club to loan him to, they won't pay. Yes, his salary could price him out of the market for loans, and he could sit. I doubt that would happen. 

For me, given how the season has gone so far, I would simply stay on contract at Orlando, he has enough goals so far to keep him on track for more to choose from in the winter transfer window.

 

[C2SKI]

There seems to be some chatter that Sporting CP are also interested in Larin.

[dstyles11]

1 hour ago, C2SKI said:

There seems to be some chatter that Sporting CP are also interested in Larin.

There's been transfer chatter on Slimani the last few of windows (since the last world cup where he scored a couple for Algeria), if he left Larin would be a ready made replacement.  They're also clearly not against acquiring and using former MLS players as they had a decent amount of success with Fredy Montero, even sticking with him through some fairly lengthy goal droughts.  This would be better for Larin i think.  I imagine Orlando's agreement with SLB might complicate this though.

[Unnamed Trialist]

7 hours ago, dstyles11 said:

There's been transfer chatter on Slimani the last few of windows (since the last world cup where he scored a couple for Algeria), if he left Larin would be a ready made replacement.  They're also clearly not against acquiring and using former MLS players as they had a decent amount of success with Fredy Montero, even sticking with him through some fairly lengthy goal droughts.  This would be better for Larin i think.  I imagine Orlando's agreement with SLB might complicate this though.

Orlando has some kind of special deal with Benfica then?

I always thought such things were senseless, if you have half-decent scouting you should go for whoever suits you, anywhere, anytime, regardless of "agreements". And if you have a half-decent front office, any agreement can be picked and made at will.